This is one of the fastest pickups in the history of the network, which tends to wait until at least the fifth episode airs before renewing a show. But given the show’s ratings and, just as important, the rating growth the past couple weeks, and – hey, it’s also freakin’ Halloween – this was an easy decision.

By announcing today, FX is also able to promote its four-episode Halloween marathon of the show that begins tonight – so those how haven’t seen AHS can get caught up.

“It’s one thing to have the ambition and guts to reinvent a genre in a way that makes it captivatingly fresh for a broad audience – it’s something else entirely to have the craft to back that ambition up,” said FX president John Landgraf. “Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have hit the trifecta with Nip/Tuck, Glee and now American Horror Story, which will be scaring FX’s viewers to death for many years to come.”